VA - Grand 12Inches - Volume 5 (2008) (Compiled by Ben Liebrand)

These are the roots of my career in music. These tracks have determined the path to follow and many of them where revolutionary and truly progressive at the time they where originally released. I have taken the greatest care to come up with the best possible masters, sometimes comparing up to 5 different versions to find out which one sounded the best and most pure. And sometimes even baking the analog master tapes to make them playable again. The heat evaporates the moisture in the coating of the tape. The otherwise moist backing will clog up all parts of the tape recorder the tape touches, leaving a dark glue like substance grinding everything to a halt. After the backing process, the tape becomes playable again and the transfer to digital is performed. Some tracks feature a combination of vocal and dub version just as I used to perform that combination in a live DJ-set. Such a combination features the best parts from the vocal and dub version, capturing the complete feel of what that track meant to me.

Liebrand just keeps his series growing stronger. This man is so passionate about his music that he does everything he can to get these classics on CD at last, and willingly admits in his liner notes where each source came from, whether it's the original master or vinyl, and the work he did to clean up any sound issues with such sources in order to preserve these hard-to-find versions digitally. The fantastic thing about this volume is that in several cases, when, for example, a `long' album version and a 12" mix are very different and each has something unique to offer a song, liebrand himself masters a version that takes the best of both mixes and creates an all-NEW, basically definitive version many of us dance collectors have always wished for in the first place. When you read his liner notes, you will be amazed at the lengths he goes to in the studio to bring all of these songs to you in the best sounding quality possible.